


Just Breathe.

by vangoghingtohell



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Langst, M/M, OC Planet, Some Sad shit, angst prompts, i was bored, idk - Freeform, is that what i write when i create a planet?, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 16:33:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11855466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vangoghingtohell/pseuds/vangoghingtohell
Summary: “Lance? Lance! You’re okay. Breathe. Just breathe. Open your eyes. Come back. It’s okay. It’s over now. You’re okay. Wake up. Please wake up. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. I love you so much. Come back!”





	Just Breathe.

“You’re okay. Breathe. Just breathe. Open your eyes. Come back. It’s okay. It’s over now. You’re okay. Wake up. Please wake up. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. I love you so much. Come back.”

\--

The Galra had come out of nowhere. The castle had been sailing through empty space, in search of a planet to help or a distress signal to answer. The Vexoria quadrant was empty, had been for decaphebes, since the rebel fighters and the Galra occupying the few planets in the quadrant fought amongst themselves and pushed one another into oblivion. Zarkon hadn’t seen reason to waste precious resources on trying to retake a sector with a few sparse, decimated plants and maybe half an intelligent civilization left.

Voltron routinely returned to the sector, a chance to calm down under the guise of a ‘patrol’ of the quadrant, to ensure that the broken civilizations were rebuilding themselves, free of the fear of a reattack by Galran forces. They would glide through the stars, slowly, regrouping and performing repairs and checking for damage caused by the latest skirmish with a hostile squadron.

This was like any other visit. Upon finishing checking his lion, which hadn’t sustained significant damage because of the powerful armour that shielded Yellow from the brunt of the Galran blows, Hunk almost immediately disappeared into the kitchen to whip up some space recipe he must have picked up on obscure planet seventeen quadrants away.

Pidge, on the other hand, was lost amongst nuts and bolts and wires and who-knew-what-else, tinkering with Green in an attempt to modify her even more. The sound of whirring and clanking could be heard through the hangar door, somewhat ominous, and nobody dared disturb her during such important work.

On the bridge, Allura was steering the ship, setting a leisurely, slow pace toward Vexoria’s biggest planet, Vectrax. Shiro was in his seat, tapping away at his control panel, planning defensive manoeuvres or new training regimes – something Shiro-y. Coran was hiding in the portal generator, making sure there were no cracks, muttering to himself, completely unaware that his bridge intercom was still on, Allura trying to muffle her giggles.

Keith and Lance were at the pool, enjoying the fake earth beach simulation the Pidge had set up, ‘sunbathing’ on a large recliner, limbs tangled up, Lance breathing softly and slowly, lost in sleep, while Keith watched the slight rise and fall of his chest, in time to the breaking of the little waves on the synthetic sand.

A feeling of contentment had settled on the castle, snuck through the airlocks and into the vents, as each of the inhabitants took some time off. The castle made slow headway toward the cloud of solar dust that cloaked Vectrax and its sole moon, Xanthis. The stars danced and twinkled on the bridge’s screen window, and light glinted in the purplish green cloud. The smell of Hunk’s cooking began to waft through the castle’s ventilation system, despite Coran’s many attempts at isolating the kitchen’s regular vents along with the exhaust system. The Vexoria quadrant always lulled the paladins into a false sense of security.

So of course none of them noticed when one of the purple glints from the solar dust cloud began to move.

\--

The ship cut through the cloud. The Galra general on board watched, tying to squint through the multi-coloured fog. The other crew on the bridge kept a close eye on their sensors, waiting for the moment that they could emerge from the signal disguising mass and take their adversaries by surprise. The cloud parted for a moment, and the castle came into view, no bigger than a speck in the distance.

The crew tensed, ready to hyperjump, but the general held up his hand – and the detection alarms stayed silent. The clouds joined together once more, the Altean ship replaced by purplish darkness once more.

\--

The landing zone lights warned Allura that the ship was nearing the gravitational fields of the planet, and she began to initiate the landing sequence, calling Coran from his tinkering. He was soon on the bridge, ready to assist with the landing. Vectrax was a hard planet to land on – the magnetic pull of the planet and the visibility reducing dust cloud demanding the full attention of both Allura and Coran. They could always approach from the other side of the dust cloud; circle and angle toward the planet between it and the system’s star, but then there was always a risk of a solar flare reducing them to dust.

The ship’s auxiliary booster’s began to fire, and the advanced low visibility sensors beeped loudly to announce they were online, and the ship began to slow down, preparing to be swallowed up by the stunning cloud.

Allura’s face scrunched up in concentration as she weaved the ship through the planet’s magnetic bursts, Coran focusing on holding the ship’s gravity system stable and keeping the sensors monitored and online. Shiro watched, perplexed but fascinated at how well they worked together, movements fluid.

When the Galra ship slipped out from behind the fog, the castle’s sensors went haywire. Coran and Allura’s concentration was almost immediately broken, and in their disorientation, they allowed the castle to be pulled into a magnetic flare. The castle began to spin wildly, lurching back and forth.

If they had been in open space, this wouldn’t have been an issue, but here, the gravity of Vectrax affected their trajectory, and it was too much for the gravity system to comprehend. Muffins were splattered against the kitchen’s wall, and Pidge was thrown against her desk, narrowly avoiding being impaled on a screwdriver and almost being speared by an open case of drill bits.

Glass shattered throughout the ship, and on the pool deck, water flooded the fake sand, rolling itself into a giant wave and drenching Keith and Lance, both of whom were shocked by the sudden assault on the senses, and disoriented by the cold.

The first shot was fired before the particle barrier went up. It breached the fourth deck, airlocks closing off the area, but not before weaponry and furniture was sucked out. An accompanying shot breached the fifth deck, as the Galra cruiser moved into clear view of the castle, shadow looming and silhouette menacing. The ship’s defence systems came online as it identified the ship and (thanks to Pidge’s tinkering) the particle barrier was activated by itself, bracing the castle as the paladins came to their senses.

Allura was knocked from her controls, sending the castle into another lurch as it veered into the path of another magnetic wave, sending even more objects flying – Shiro was hurled against the roof of the bridge, and Pidge once again narrowly avoided death by computer components. An empty muffin tray whacked Hunk’s head, and Keith and Lance found themselves running from another wave of water, leaping into the elevator just as the water slammed against the wall, roiling and pulling, sucking them under as they gasped desperately for breath, finding only water. Then they were free – the elevator doors hissed shut and the ventilation kicked in.

Coran immediately dusted himself off, returning to his post and taking control as Allura’s slumped form stirred on the other side of the bridge, a few metres from where Shiro was now running toward the bridge door. He was interrupted by a confused Hunk, Pidge following close behind. The ship rocked sideways again before they had another chance to speak, throwing them sideways as Keith and Lance arrived – now dressed in their normal clothes – flying through the doorway and landing with a thump near Coran’s feet.

“What the heck is going on?!” Lance’s question echoed the frenzied thoughts of the others.  
“Galra ambush! Send word to Vectrax and tell them to assemble their forces – we can’t take this ship alone, it’s far too big and we’re too unprepared!” Coran shouted as he expertly aimed a blow at the cruiser, which shook the castle after it was reflected back upon the particle barrier by a Galra laser.

Another round of blaring alarms – “They’ve managed to breach the forward particle barrier! This firepower is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before!” The disbelief in Coran’s voice struck worry into the Paladin’s minds and fear into their hearts. “Paladins! We must form Voltron! Now!”  
“Not possible!” Coran almost immediately countered Shiro. “What? Why not?!” Now it was Shiro’s turn to sound disbelieving. “Two of the access routes to the lions have been destroyed by Galra firepower – there’s no way for Keith or Lance to get to their lions in time. They’ll have to stay on board. The rest of you must go as fast as you can! NOW!” Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro followed Coran’s orders without complaint.

Allura crawled to her control stand. “Nice to see you, Princess,” Coran greeted her somewhat gratefully, as she hauled herself up and took over weapons control just as the ship narrowly dodged a flare.

“How come they’re able to just float there while we’re being shaken liken pepper by these stupid flares?” Lance was confused. “They must have some form of technology on board that allows the ship’s computers to predict and account for the flares before they happen so they aren’t caught by one,” Allura replied evenly, fully awake now with all remnants of shock gone as she concentrated and deflected another beam.

From out of the corner of his eye, Keith saw movement. “The Vectraxians! They’re here in their ships!” It was clear to the other three that Keith was itching to be out in one of those ships or Red, rather than here, watching others fight and maybe die for him.

The ship lurched again, this time caught unawares by one of the many Galran fighter jets that had been launched to deal with the new arrivals.

\--

The Galran general watched on calmly. The bridge of his ship was in total silence as his men deftly flicked away at their panels, firing and directing multitudes of lasers and fighters at the stricken Castle of Lions. He watched the castle roll around, particle barrier shimmering and flickering.

True, the arrival of the Vectraxian forces had shocked him. They had all been unprepared for such fighting craft, believing that the Vectraxian civilisation was one still crippled from the rule the Galra had once imposed over them. Still, it was a small matter of crushing them like fleas before directing all power at the castle once more.

“Do not let them escape. It is imperative that the castle is destroyed and the Paladins taken, dead or alive.”

\--

“The secondary shield generators are online!” Coran’s relief was echoed in Allura’s eyes. The shield grew stronger, the ship rocking less and the lasers being stopped in their tracks. “Allura! Can you open a wormhole?” Lance yelled from his seat on the bridge, where he was watching the ship’s various systems. “I can try! Keith, Coran, you have control!” Keith slipped into his seat, and assumed control of the weapons, firing a tirade of shots at an approaching Galra formation, wiping them out with ease.

Allura closed her weapon screens and focused. “Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, come back toward the castle, we’re leaving!” Lance yelled down his intercom and watched the three lions turn toward the ship. “We’re coming back,” Hunk’s voice replied, “Green is damaged, meet Pidge in her hangar!” Lance jumped up and running down the corridor that provided access to the bridge.

“Allura! Hurry! The backup generators can’t take much more!” The particle barrier was flickering again. Coran watched frantically, struggling to maintain control against the waves of fighters and flares they were facing. “I’ve… almost… got it…” Allura’s face was scrunched up in concentration. “She’s still dazed, Coran, we’ll have to hold them off longer!” Keith barely had a moment to yell before the ship swung to the left. He parried the blow with seven quick bursts of the main laser, slicing through rows of fighters and making the first impact on the cruiser.

“I’ve got it!” The great black hole of the portal yawned in front of the ship. Then, a lot of things happened at once.

The hangar doors closed behind their lions, Hunk and Shiro’s coming to rest, Pidge landing with a thump, slumped unconscious in her seat. The castle ship momentarily diverted shield power to auxiliary boosters, and began to move toward the portal. Enraged by the hit on his ship, the Galra general fired the main ion cannon.

Lance was running down the hallway toward Pidge’s hangar when the ship passed through the portal. Before it closed, the ion cannon beam passed through it too.

\--

The general screamed, slamming his hands down and shattering his control panel. He turned and unceremoniously kicked a weapons officer from his seat, and unleashed a barrage of fire on the Vectraxians, wiping out some of his own fighters in his fury. The Vectraxians had the good sense to retreat, pulling away and banishing into the fog that surrounded their homeland. The fog was silent once more as the Galra ship and its fighters entered hyperjump. “Zarkon will not be please about this. And we must return to the Vexoria quadrant. They have come too far.”

\--

The ion beam hit the ship at full force with no particle barrier to stop it. The hull near the corridor Lance was running down was breached, crumbling into nothingness. The vacuum picked up Lance and slammed him against a wall, before he was caught in a door, the only thing stopping him being sucked out with the air around him.

Keith screamed on the bridge, watching the scene play out via a camera linked to his monitor. Within seconds he had jumped up and was running toward where the spacesuits were kept. The machine that stored them dressed him in seconds, and he was shooting down halls and corridors towards his stricken boyfriend.

Coran immediately stabilised the ship, whose repair systems had come online now that the defence systems had been shut down by Allura, who had taken control as soon as Keith left the bridge.

Hunk and Shiro arrived, dragging a stirring Pidge. “Where are the others? We need to debrief.” Shiro looked toward their seats as he spoke, empty amongst a backdrop of calm stars. “We must go, now,” Allura spoke, the urgency apparent in her voice. “What? Why?” Shiro questioned, as he threw a now awake, protesting, and slightly groggy Pidge over his shoulder and gave chase to the others’ retreating forms.

Keith keyed in the release code for the emergency seal on the door and the hallway around him was surrounded by sirens and a flashing red light as it opened and the closest emergency door sealed, stopping the other five in their tracks. He allowed the suction of the escaping air to carry him into the wreckage of the hallway, toward Lance’s limp form, snagging his jacket on his fingers, and fighting to dislodge him from his resting place. It was a short struggle, Lance’s jacket tearing slightly as Keith pulled him from where it had caught on a hinge, and sealing the door behind him, collapsing to the floor as gravity took hold once more.

Now the other door opened, and the others came rushing down the passage to find a teary Keith pumping Lance’s chest desperately. The sight shocked Pidge awake – stopped her feeling the throbbing pain where she’d whacked her head on Green's dashboard after taking a direct hit from the cruiser.

Lance lay, limbs splayed in all directions, one arm at an unnaturally awkward angle, limp on the floor. Keith, still suited up, leaned over him, pumping and breathing into his mouth, determination filling every fibre of his being. “I… am… not… letting… you… go…” he breathed between pumps. Lance’s eyes flickered open.

“K-Keith.” He gasped desperately for air, lungs screaming.  
“I’m here, Lance, I’m right here, it’s gonna be okay, you survived.” Keith kissed him, held on to him. “I’m not going to let you go Lance, we’re gonna fix you.”  
“K-Keith. I-I love you. A-Allura,” she stepped forward. “T-Take good care of Blue. Do that for me. Please.” Keith spoke, frenzied, frantic, desperate.  
“Don’t talk like that, you’re not going anywhere Lance, we’re gonna put you in a pod and you’re gonna be okay, and I love you, and we’re going to defeat Zarkon and go home and see your family again.”  
“Goodbye, Keith.”

Lance heaved in a juddering final breath and fell limp in Keith’s arms.

“Lance? Lance! You’re okay. Breathe. Just breathe. Open your eyes. Come back. It’s okay. It’s over now. You’re okay. Wake up. Please wake up. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. I love you so much. Come back!” Keith broke down, hugging Lance’s body, holding on tightly.

The others watched Keith’s anguished sobbing, watched them wrack his body, watched his shoulders heave with grief.

\--

Lance lay in his room, still, the glass casing on his bed protecting his body, in case the Paladins found a way to repair the memory interface chamber. Keith slid the door to his room shut and Pidge sealed it, melancholy settled over them like a thick, suffocating blanket. “I should have gone with him. It’s my fault. I could-I could have made him put on his suit. I-It’s my fault he’s gone.” Keith broke down once more, Allura embracing him, holding him up. “Listen to me. Keith, listen to me. It is not your fault this happened. You couldn’t have known, you can’t hold yourself responsible, you just can’t. Lance wouldn’t have wanted that.”  
“You can’t tell me what he wanted! He’s dead!” Keith spun on his heel and ran.

Alone on the bridge, he stared forlornly at Lance’s empty seat sorry, sombre. He was truly, utterly, and completely broken. “Zarkon,” he spat, through gritted teeth, “will pay for this.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: http://angstprompts.tumblr.com/post/157116252459/angstprompts-thoughtsfromthewritersdesk
> 
> Okay so i realised the other day i hadn't written in ages. So of course, this being exams, and the only other alternative being to study for Physics, I wrote this instead.  
> Also I may write more chapters, I leave a lot of my stories open-ended, but it's unlikely, so this is it. Angsty-angst, courtesy of me, your resident Mess™
> 
> Be sure to leave Kudos and Comments!  
> P.S. no one has beta read this so if you see any errors please point them out so i can fix them and pretend i never make mistakes


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